Chennai: On Tuesday, Madras High Court said candidates who want to become teachers, and have got their certificates verified between May 2010 and February 2011, need not to appear for the mandatory Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).
As per information, a Division Bench comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and M Vengopal granted relief to 94 teacher trainees, who had filed review petitions. This judgement came after their petitions were dismissed by another Division Bench.
As per sources, in May 2010, more than 32,000 qualified candidates with teacher education diploma were sponsored by many employment exchanges on the basis of seniority as well as communal reservation for teacher selection process. All certificates were verified between May 12, 2010 and February 2011. Teachers' Eligibility Test was made mandatory for appointment of teachers for Class VI to Class VIII, after the Central Government Centre notified the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE Act) on August 23, 2010.
According to the information, the two TET exams were held by the state government, which were qualified by less than one per cent candidates, which resulted in teacher training qualified candidates resenting the selection process by a mandatory test, rather than seniority of registration in employment exchanges.
A team of 94 such candidates had filed a written petition, which was dismissed on March 2012. Their appeal too was dismissed in July 2012. As per their recent petition, filed by advocates R Sudha and C Uma, they were sponsored for selection and their certificate verification too was completed. Hence they should be exempted from writing the TET.
However, Advocate general A L Somayaji assisted by additional government pleader P Sanjay Gandhi, said mere sponsoring of names by employment exchange and calling of candidates for certificate verification, by themselves could not be termed selection. He also added that the question of appointment would arise only if a candidate is selected for the post.
The bench mentioned that Clause 5 of the RTE Act notification made it clear that candidates who had taken part in selection process prior to the Aug 23 2010 notification date need not write the TET. After the AG said no vacancies were available for teachers as on date, the judge said we direct the authorities to accommodate the review petitioners in future vacancies, without insisting on them to appear for the TET.
